Bill Gates, Elon Musk Twitter Accounts Hacked In “Nigerian” Bitcoin Scam

guest · Jul 20, 2020

On the Twitter Hack
July 20, 2020
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/07/on_the_twitter_.html

Twitter was hacked this week. Not a few people's Twitter accounts, but all of Twitter. Someone compromised the entire Twitter network, probably by stealing the log-in credentials of one of Twitter's system administrators. Those are the people trusted to ensure that Twitter functions smoothly.

Internet communications platforms -- such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube -- are crucial in today's society. They're how we communicate with one another.
Yet they are run by for-profit companies with little government oversight. This is simply no longer sustainable.

For Twitter users, this attack was a double whammy. Many people rely on Twitter's authentication systems to know that someone who purports to be a certain celebrity, politician, or journalist is really that person.
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Maybe this hack will serve as a wake-up call. But if past incidents involving Twitter and other companies are any indication, it won't. Underspending on security, and letting society pay the eventual price, is far more profitable. I don't blame the tech companies.
Their corporate mandate is to make as much money as is legally possible. Fixing this requires changes in the law, not changes in the hearts of the company's leaders.
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hawki · Jul 23, 2020

"Twitter Support

To recap:

130 total accounts targeted by attackers

45 accounts had Tweets sent by attackers

36 accounts had the DM inbox accessed

8 accounts had an archive of “Your Twitter Data” downloaded, none of these are Verified"
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https://twitter.com/TwitterSupport/status/1286123465276178433

guest · Jul 23, 2020

Twitter says hackers accessed Dutch politician's inbox
Twitter says an elected Dutch official was among 36 account holders
July 23, 2020
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/w...ers-accessed-dutch-politicians-inbox-71938517

Twitter says an elected Dutch official was among 36 account holders whose direct message inboxes were accessed in a recent high-profile hack.

The politician, anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, said Thursday that he was informed by Twitter that his account was compromised by a hacker, who posted tweets on his account and sent false direct messages, or DMs, in his name.
The hacker ”indeed also got full access to my DM's which of course is totally unacceptable in many ways," Wilders said.
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ArsTechnica: Hackers obtained Twitter DMs for 36 high-profile account holders

Hack also exposed phone numbers, email addresses and other PII for 130 users
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mood said: ↑

An update on our security incident (July 18, 2020)
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Updated (July 22, 2020):

Last updated on July 22, 2020 at 5:00pm PT with additional details in the "What the attackers accessed" section below.
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guest · Jul 23, 2020

Exclusive: More than 1,000 people at Twitter had ability to aid hack of accounts
July 24, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ability-to-aid-hack-of-accounts-idUSKCN24O34E

More than a thousand Twitter employees and contractors as of earlier this year had access to internal tools that could change user account settings and hand control to others, two former employees said, making it hard to defend against the hacking that occurred last week.

The former employees familiar with Twitter security practices said that too many people could have done the same thing, more than 1,000 as of earlier in 2020, including some at contractors like Cognizant.
Twitter declined to comment on that figure and would not say whether the number declined before the hack or since.

“That sounds like there are too many people with access,” said Edward Amoroso, former chief security officer at AT&T. Responsibilities among the staff should have been split up, with access rights limited to those responsibilities and more than one person required to agree to make the most sensitive account changes.
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longshots · Jul 24, 2020

hawki said: ↑

A Twitter insider was responsible for a wave of high profile account takeovers on Wednesday, according to leaked screenshots obtained by Motherboard and two sources who took over accounts...
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More than a thousand Twitter employees and contractors as of earlier this year had access to internal tools that could change user account settings and hand control to others, two former employees said, making it hard to defend against the hacking that occurred last week
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Is this the real elephant in the room?
All the pontificating about passwords and security seems to be redundant when these incidents occur.

Rasheed187 · Jul 25, 2020

mood said: ↑

Exclusive: More than 1,000 people at Twitter had ability to aid hack of accounts
July 24, 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ability-to-aid-hack-of-accounts-idUSKCN24O34E
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It's truly ridiculous. How on earth didn't they train these people against social engineering, and why didn't they install extra security software like anti-loggers on their machines? And also weird that there was no extra monitoring going on when it came to their internal tools.

guest · Jul 27, 2020

Following security breach, report says Twitter contractors have been caught spying on accounts in the past
July 27, 2020
https://9to5mac.com/2020/07/27/foll...e-been-caught-spying-on-accounts-in-the-past/

Multiple Twitter accounts were recently hacked through Twitter’s own internal tools, affecting high-profiles like Apple, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, and more. While the company is still investigating the issue, a new Bloomberg report claims that Twitter has been warned about potential account violations for years.

According to former Twitter employees, CEO Jack Dorsey and the board of directors have been warned of concerns about the security of users’ personal data since 2015.
The report says that there are about 1,500 employees who are directly related to internal account management, which gives them access to email addresses and phone numbers of millions of social network users.

A group of workers used to create false support tickets to spy on celebrity accounts, including Beyoncé. With these support tickets, Twitter employees can check things like the IP address and the approximate location of the accounts.
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However, former security employees claim that Twitter doesn’t prioritize security improvements internally.

Twitter management has often dragged its heels on upgrades to information security controls while prioritizing consumer products and features, a source of tension for many businesses.
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guest · Jul 31, 2020

Twitter confirms it was hit by targeted spearphishing attack
July 31, 2020
https://www.computerweekly.com/news...s-it-was-hit-by-targeted-spearphishing-attack

Twitter’s investigation into a serious cyber attack that took place earlier in July 2020 has found that cyber criminals gained access to its systems through a well-planned and carefully targeted social engineering spearphishing attack on Twitter’s own employees.

“This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems,” said a Twitter spokesperson via a disclosure blog. “This was a striking reminder of how important each person on our team is in protecting our service. We take that responsibility seriously and everyone at Twitter is committed to keeping your information safe.
The firm operates a zero-tolerance policy for misuse of these tools or credentials, and actively monitors and audits the permissions it grants.

However, clearly these safeguards failed to account for malicious actors moving laterally through its systems, so it said it would now be “taking a hard look” at how it can make these processes more sophisticated and secure.
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hawki · Jul 31, 2020

"Tampa teenager accused of hacking Twitter accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and more

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Tampa teenager is in jail after being accused of hacking several high-profile Twitter accounts, according to the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.

According to NBC affiliate WFLA, 30 felony charges were filed against 17-year-old Graham Clark this week for “scamming people across America” regarding the Twitter hack that happened on July 15.

Clark was booked Friday morning, according to Hillsborough County Jail records.

Authorities said Clark hacked the accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, WFLA reported..."

https://nbc-2.com/news/state/2020/0...-accounts-of-barack-obama-joe-biden-and-more/

guest · Jul 31, 2020

hawki said: ↑

"Tampa teenager accused of hacking Twitter accounts of Barack Obama, Joe Biden and more

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Tampa teenager is in jail after being accused of hacking several high-profile Twitter accounts, according to the Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office.
[...]
https://nbc-2.com/news/state/2020/0...-accounts-of-barack-obama-joe-biden-and-more/
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...and two more:
Three People Charged in Twitter Bitcoin Hack [Updated]
July 31, 2020
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/07/31/twitter-bitcoin-hack-teenager-arrested/

17-year-old Graham Clark is facing 30 felony charges for "scamming people across America" with the Twitter hack.
Update: Along with Graham Clark, the United States Department of Justice announced that a 22-year-old man from Florida and a 19-year-old from the United Kingdom have also been accused of breaching Twitter's site.

Mason Sheppard, aka "Chaewon," 19, of Bognor Regis, in the United Kingdom, was charged in a criminal complaint in the Northern District of California with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and the intentional access of a protected computer.

Nima Fazeli, aka "Rolex," 22, of Orlando, Florida, was charged in a criminal complaint in the Northern District of California with aiding and abetting the intentional access of a protected computer.
The DoJ declined to name Graham Clark because he is under 18, but his identity was already revealed by Florida news sites.
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Rasheed187 · Aug 1, 2020

mood said: ↑

Twitter confirms it was hit by targeted spearphishing attack
July 31, 2020
https://www.computerweekly.com/news...s-it-was-hit-by-targeted-spearphishing-attack
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Wait a minute, this is real hard to believe. Just how dumb are these Twitter employees, why would they give up info per phone? If it was a malware attack I could have understood it, but by phone?

guest · Aug 2, 2020

Blogger Krebs wrongly accuses man of Twitter hack, gets doxxed himself this time
August 2, 2020
https://www.itwire.com/security/blo...tter-hack,-gets-doxxed-himself-this-time.html

Krebs accused a British man of being behind an attack on Twitter that hijacked the accounts of many rich and famous Americans — including Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Jeff Bezos — on 15 July and used to advertise cryptocurrency scams.

He claimed that someone going by the pseudonym of PlugWalkJoe was a pivotal player in the hack. His mistake was pointed out by The New York Times on 18 July, with the paper saying that the teenager, whose real name is Joseph O'Connor, a British citizen aged 21, had told the newspaper that he had been getting a massage near the place he was staying in Spain when the hack came to light.

After this, Krebs wrote a second article about O'Connor which disproved his own theory, and distanced O'Connor from the hack. But he did not mention that he had made a grievous error.
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Mason Sheppard, 19, from Bogner Regis in Britain, who used the alias Chaewon, was charged with wire fraud and money laundering while Orlando-based Nima Fazeli, 22, nicknamed Rolex, was accused of aiding and abetting the crimes, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.
But Krebs has not publicly acknowledged on his website that he was wrong to name O'Connor as being behind the hack. He wrote an article about the arrests but made no mention about his stuff-up and did not offer even a word of apology.

Twitter user Darren Martyn was incensed at the fact that Krebs had again wrongly accused someone and outed them, a practice known in infosec circles as doxxing.
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guest · Aug 3, 2020

Go read this investigation into the troubled past of alleged Twitter hacker
From Minecraft scams to the biggest hack in Twitter’s history
August 3, 2020
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/3/21352325/twitter-hack-arrest-go-read-this-new-york-times-profile

On Friday Graham Ivan Clark was charged along with two others for the most serious hack in Twitter’s history, where numerous high-profile accounts including those of Elon Musk, Barack Obama, and Bill Gates were taken over to promote a bitcoin scam.

In a new investigation, The New York Times has delved into Clark’s history, which reportedly escalated from small Minecraft scams into a hack so big that some have dubbed it a global security crisis.
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The 17-year old is now being charged as an adult (the state attorney has said he’s “not an ordinary 17-year old”) with 30 felonies.
The New York Times’ report is a fascinating look at a teenager on the slippery slope of internet mischief, and it’s well worth a read in its entirety.
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guest · Sep 1, 2020

Twitter Hack May Have Had Another Mastermind: A 16-Year-Old
September 1, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/technology/twitter-hack.html

When authorities arrested Graham Ivan Clark, who they said was the “mastermind” of the recent Twitter hack that ensnared Kanye West, Bill Gates and others, one detail that stood out was his age: He was only 17.

Now authorities have homed in on another person who appears to have played an equal, if not more significant role, in the July 15 attack, according to four people involved in the investigation who declined to be identified because the inquiry was ongoing.
His age? Just 16, public records show.
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On Tuesday, federal agents served the teenager with a search warrant and scoured the Massachusetts home where he lives with his parents, said one of the people involved in the operation. A spokesman for the FBI confirmed a search warrant had been executed at the address.
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hawki · Oct 15, 2020

"Twitter hack this summer started with a tech support scam, New York regulators allege

The hackers who took over a number of high profile Twitter accounts, including those belonging to Barack Obama and Elon Musk, for several hours this summer gained entry into Twitter's internal systems simply by posing as company IT officials making a support call, according to an investigative report Wednesday by New York regulators.

At the time of the July 15 attack, Twitter had no chief information security officer and suffered from poor internal security controls, the report concluded..."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/14/tech/twitter-hack-tech-support-scam/index.html

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